A FRENCH nanny told her mother she had been "fooled and tricked" before she was allegedly murdered by her employers and thrown on a bonfire, a court has heard.

Sophie Lionnet's parents begged her to come home while she was allegedly starved, beaten and tortured by fashion designer Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni.

The Old Bailey has heard how the 21-year-old was effectively imprisoned at the couple's home as they interrogated her over false claims of collusion with Kouider's ex-boyfriend, former Boyzone band member Mark Walton.

Kouider, 35, and Medouni, 40, deny murder but admit perverting the course of justice by burning Miss Lionnet's body in their Wimbledon garden in September last year.

In a statement read to the court, Miss Lionnet's mother Catherine Devalonne said: "She was a nice girl, smiling but quite discreet. She would not talk a lot. She enjoyed the company of her boy and girl friends."